


watching me watching you

by hideyseek



Series: what happens when im home alone [6]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: AEDWQ, Airport Parking Lots, Airports, Flashbacks, M/M, POV Second Person, Parking lots, Phone Calls & Telephones, Self Remix, Week 6, a travesty, bc sometimes i am Dissatisfied with my work and since this isn't school i can just, do it over again more better, im so sleeby and im sure u can tell from this Mess of tags, liminal spaces, listen okay i just really adore, uh what else, what HOW is that not its own tag already
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:13:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24344809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hideyseek/pseuds/hideyseek
Summary: This is how Eames thinks: keep looking; keep looking, come what may.
Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception)
Series: what happens when im home alone [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1707835
Comments: 12
Kudos: 14





	1. the original

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written as part of the sixth week of the AEDWQ (Arthur/Eames Drabble Writing Quarantine) run by the fantastic teacuphuman02!  
> prompt: "Act natural!" (verbatim, which caused me no end of consternation)  
> genre: flashback  
> word count: 200 < x < 250
> 
> thanks to @musingsofaretiredunicorn for betaing! and alphaing! and telling me it didn't suck around 5pm on tuesday.

You've been thinking about his mouth since the Fischer job.

The smallest things bring you back: hotel carpet, bank pens, the humming fluorescents in an airport terminal at night, an airport in the city you know Arthur’s in. 

He’d knelt beside you graceful as anything , haloed by that ceiling light, utterly professional. His eyes on the IV, and yours on his face. He’d vowed, “I shall lead them on a merry chase,” and his teeth around the word  _ chase... _

You can’t stop thinking about his mouth.

There’s music as soon as you exit the terminal, drifting from the parking attendant’s radio in the warm, damp air. It’s familiar and hazy, pleasant. _ “All you gotta do is—”  _

An image too strong to be anything but memory: this chorus in your ears, Arthur flicking his gaze away, biting down on his pen cap so hard even you can hear the crack.

_ “Act natural!” _ suggests the singer, voice dispersing in soft echoes in the darkness at the edges of the lot. You pull out your phone.

“Darling,” you say, across time and space, immediate only when he next checks his voicemails. “Darling, I’m at your airport. Give me a call if you—” and the line cuts.

“Hey,” says Arthur in your ear as you turn the corner, and there he is.

A silhouette with his phone against his cheek, a flash of white in the shadow of his face: he’s smiling. 

Just as he hangs up, your eyes find his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> behind-the-scenes facts:  
> 1\. there are 4k words in the document that contains the two final version of this (which themselves total only to 500 words)  
> 2\. the working title of this was "all about the /gaz/" bc i took a linguistics class last semester and am now obsessed and also because it's about both gays and gazing.  
> 3\. “all about that gaze, bout those gays, no breathing!” - @musings, dragging me away from sentences describing eames' breathing because apparently thematic continuity is something to aim for. (sing to the tune of "all about that bass")  
> 4\. this is NOT about the "Act Naturally" song by buck owens - i only know about it after panic!googling to see if i'd stolen anything from anyone and finding out i had
> 
> find me on tumblr, slack, and discord @hideyseek!


	2. the remix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i made D sit down with me and the contents of chapter 1 for two hours. this is the result.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remixed because i'm participating in AEDWQ - aka: hideyseek does a case study on writer!brains, #science
> 
> enormous thanks to D for the whole shebang <3

There’s music as soon as you exit the terminal, drifting from the parking attendant’s radio through the warm, damp air. It’s fuzzy but familiar: “All you gotta do is—” 

An image too strong to be anything but memory: this chorus in the background of a TV ad and Arthur flicks his gaze away, biting down on his pen cap so hard even you can hear the crack.

You’ve been thinking about his mouth since the Fischer job.

Arthur had knelt beside you, graceful as anything and haloed in the ceiling light, utterly professional. His eyes on the IV, and yours on his face. “I shall lead them on a merry chase,” he’d vowed, his teeth around the word chase like an invitation to— 

“Act natural!” urges the radio, and you stop short. 

He’s frowning in his contact photo, fuzzy but familiar. His name is at the top of your list of missed calls. 

You hit redial. 

“Darling,” you say, across time and space, immediate only when he next checks his voicemails. “Darling, I’m at your airport. Give me a call if you—” and the line connects.

“Hey,” says Arthur in your ear as you turn the corner, and there he is.

A silhouette with his phone against his cheek, a flash of white in the shadow of his face: he’s smiling. 

Just as he hangs up, your eyes find his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for making it this far! please let me know what you think, about the difference in the reading experience between the two chapters (i'm SO curious what people who were not at my dining table or on D's couch think of the changes) 
> 
> behind-the-scenes snippets:  
> d: *copy-pastes "fuzzy and familiar" to where arthur's contact pic is being described*  
> me, whispering: what the _fuck_  
>  me, _shouting_ : JESUS FUCK MAN! YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME
> 
> come shout at me about writing fic and reading fic and arthur and eames on tumblr/slack/discord @hideyseek!


End file.
